Part 5 (1/2)
And despite everything she'd seen, Kat still wasn't totally sure she believed it.
She'd seen Miranda change . . . seen her teeth . . . seen her bite Drew . . . and she'd felt the change in her friend from some deep place in her gut that knew a predator when it saw one. She'd watched David from across a table, all the tiny alien things about him making a disturbing kind of sense. And yet . . .
Vampires? Really?
Kat hung out in the wings as she often did during Miranda's shows, leaning sideways against some kind of rigging, one hand steadying her and the other resting on her stomach. Funny how having a vampire Queen in her life made all her own problems seem a bit smaller.
That wasn't comforting.
Something had Miranda fired up, though, and not in the same way as she had been that night months ago-then she had been emerging from years of slumber and shaking off her old life to find herself powerful. Tonight she was just plain old p.i.s.sed off. Kat could see it. She didn't have to be an empath to read her best friend.
Kat didn't bring it up until after the encore, after Miranda had stalked off the stage to her dressing room and changed, after the house lights were out and the applause was no longer making Kat's ears ring.
When, finally, they were sitting in the cafe-at the same table where Kat had squared off with David, it turned out-Kat stirred sugar into her decaf and said, ”Okay, spill it.”
Miranda was no longer fuming but she was still gravely irate, and she lacked her husband's ability to put on a poker face. ”It's nothing.”
”Oh, bulls.h.i.+t.”
Miranda smiled. ”Yeah, okay.”
”Come on, Your Majesty.” Kat took a drink of her coffee and made a face; without caffeine it just wasn't the same. ”This is a no-c.r.a.p zone, here at this table. I am officially your No-c.r.a.p Friend.”
A sigh. ”I told you about all the other Pairs coming to visit, right? The one that's here now is a complete d.i.c.k. He has slave girls, Kat-what do I do about that?”
”Slave girls? For real?”
”Yes. They're being kept against their will-at least Faith thinks so. I could offer them asylum, but that could cause a rift between the South and the Northeast, and David says that would come back to haunt us-this b.a.s.t.a.r.d has powerful friends. But I can't just sit back and do nothing, can I?”
”Wow.” Kat sat back, staring at her friend. ”Your life is just f.u.c.king weird now, you know that?”
She grinned. ”Yes, I do. And I have this feeling it's just going to keep getting weirder.”
”I can guarantee that,” Kat replied, slowly turning her coffee cup in her hand. ”Look, Mira, I've counseled run-away teens and battered wives. I've taught English to Afghani women fleeing the Taliban. But when a vampire Queen comes to me and says some vampire b.a.s.t.a.r.d is keeping slaves, I have to be honest: I have no idea what to say.”
Miranda chuckled and shook her head. ”Remember when the worst thing that could happen was getting knocked up at a frat party?”
Kat swallowed hard, looking down at her cup, her insides knotting up before she could force her emotions back down again. d.a.m.n it, if- Too late.
”Hey,” Miranda said, staring at her keenly, ”what's wrong?”
Kat still didn't meet her eyes. ”Quit doing that psychic thing on me.”
”I'm not. I promise. I've just gotten a lot better at reading people. It's . . . part of the job, I guess. You've been weird all night, not just now. It's your turn to spill it.”
”It's not important,” Kat said, surprised at the spark of anger in her own voice. ”Just a human problem.”
Miranda didn't snap back at her or even show that she heard the last statement. Kat remembered what she'd said about being empathic, that words didn't always matter and she could feel the truth underneath them, even without trying. It was what had driven her crazy before.
Miranda reached over and grabbed Kat's hand, then sucked in a breath. ”Holy s.h.i.+t.”
Kat s.n.a.t.c.hed her hand back. ”I told you not to do that!”
”I'm sorry,” Miranda said. ”I just wanted to be sure. I keep myself s.h.i.+elded and I'm not used to picking things up from mortals, but you're different. You're my friend.”
Kat did something completely out of character and also completely embarra.s.sing. She burst into tears.
She felt Miranda s.h.i.+ft from the opposite side of the booth to sit by Kat and offer her shoulder. Kat buried her face in Miranda's neck, and Miranda murmured to her, stroking her back. It was as if she were putting off gentle waves of soothing heat, and if that was part of her mojo, well, Kat wasn't going to argue with it right now.
”Does Drew know?” Miranda asked.
”Not yet. He's in Beaumont at a conference. Due back in a few days.” Kat wiped her eyes on her napkin and sat up, but Miranda stayed where she was, a solid presence that Kat wanted desperately to cling to until she wasn't so scared of drowning. ”I don't know what I'm going to do.”
Miranda didn't say anything at first, and Kat went on, ”I have an appointment at the women's clinic Thursday for a consultation. I can go back a week later for the big suck . . . but . . .”
”You aren't sure,” Miranda said. ”Kat . . .”
”I mean, I have a house, and I've got money from Dad's estate-not piles of it, but I do okay. And Drew might be a good dad. But I'm . . . G.o.d, Mira, how could this happen? I'm on the f.u.c.king pill!”
Miranda had an odd look on her face, at once gravely attentive and miles away, as if she were listening to two conversations at once. Her fingers were still curled around Kat's arm, and they were suddenly hot as she stared off into s.p.a.ce.
”Kat . . .” she said softly, ”cancel the appointment.”
”Wait, I'm not just going to-”
”I'm not telling you to keep it.” Miranda cut her off gently but insistently. ”I'm saying wait. Give it two weeks. Talk to Drew. You've got a little time to decide . . . I know what you've always said you'd do, but just wait. Just a little while. I promise it will be okay.”
Kat gaped at her, her panic momentarily forgotten. ”What the h.e.l.l are you looking at?”
Miranda's eyes cleared, and she blinked and took her hand away. She looked, and sounded, as rattled as Kat felt. ”I don't know. Nothing like that has ever happened before.”
She moved back across the booth, and Kat was able to breathe again. ”Well, it was creepy.”
”Yeah.” Miranda looked a little dizzy and leaned her forehead in her hands for a minute before looking up at Kat. ”But take my advice, Kat. Wait. n.o.body's going to force you to do anything you're not a hundred percent sure about . . . but make sure you're a hundred percent sure.”
Kat swallowed and nodded, grabbing her gla.s.s of water and gulping down half of it out of sheer nerves. ”Okay.”
Miranda nodded. ”Good.” She pushed her hair back from her face, seeming a little nervous about the whole thing, but when she spoke again it was with conviction. ”No matter what happens, Katmandu, I'm here for you. We'll figure this out.”
Kat mustered a smile for her. As weird as Miranda's psychic fade-out had been, there was still something incredibly comforting about having gotten the truth out-just knowing someone else knew was a load off her shoulders. If it had been a year ago, Miranda's rea.s.surance wouldn't have been very rea.s.suring, because she had been bats.h.i.+t insane and teetering on the edge of oblivion, but now . . . Kat might not know much at the moment, but she knew that if Miranda said something would happen, G.o.d himself would buy a ticket to watch it go down.
She was the Queen of Shadows, after all.
A woman's duty was to serve her man. She must be quiet and dutiful, obedient, accommodating. She must defer to him in all things, for he knew best, as was ordained by G.o.d Almighty when Adam first bade Eve to lie beneath him in the Garden.
Cora stared up at the unfamiliar ceiling of the Haven while Prime Hart grunted and swore above her, her mind in the soft dark corner she had long ago created for it, a place where she was dimly aware of what her Master was doing, but it was only her body that he was invading, and she, Cora, was safe, watching from far away. There was only so far she could go, but every inch of distance was a treasure to her, and there she waited once again while he shuddered and burst hot and cruel into her body.